Description
(Text)
This volume presents a comprehensive, inter-disciplinary re-evaluation of Hofmannsthals most successful play and, more widely, on his contribution to literary modernity and its aftermath. Der Schwierige marks Hofmannsthals attempt to depict and overcome the language crisis he himself recognized in the Letter to Lord Chandos. Written between 1909 and 1920, the play reflects Hofmannsthals experience of the atrocities of war, unnameable but constantly present behind the chatter in the Viennese salons. The volume looks at the relationship between poetological and poetic texts, and sheds new light on the position of Der Schwierige in Hofmannsthals work. Contributions address central motifs of the play (community, identity, gender) as well as the way in which it positions itself as a tragic comedy after the end of a catastrophic war. Translations into other languages, its performance on stage and on screen, philosophical reception, and Hofmannsthals reaction to the downfall of the Habsburg Empire and his views on the role of marriage, are recurrent themes that are investigated from various perspectives.
(Author portrait)
Martin Liebscher, geb. 1972 in Wien, ist Direktor des Ingeborg Bachmann Centre for Austrian Literature und Senior Lecturer am Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies an der School of Advanced Study der Universität London. Sein Forschungsinteresse gilt der deutschen Philosophie und Geistesgeschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts, insbesondere deren Einfluss auf die Entstehung der frühen Psychoanalyse und Tiefenpsychologie.
